Tag Archive for: dental health

Natalie Soonthornswad

How To Choose the Right Bone for Your Dog or Cat

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We believe strongly in the benefits of chewing on bones for both cats and dogs. Your animal’s mouth is her greatest tool, so it is important to take good care of it! Chewing bones is a great way for them to exercise their jaw muscles, clean their teeth, and provide mental stimulation. (Check out our previous blog posts on the benefits of bones for dogs and cats!)

However, chewing on bones does carry risks, such as breaking a tooth and/or choking. It is important to be aware of the risks and how to safely choose a bone to maximize the benefits and reduce the potential risks.

In order to minimize the risks of chewing on bones, you should take into consideration size, density, and chewing tendencies of your animal:

  • Size: Bones should be large enough that the dog or cat cannot fit the bone entirely into their mouth. If it is too small, the animal could choke on it.
  • Density: Stronger chewers should stick to bones that are more dense or stronger, such as a shank bones, antlers, goat horn, and beef or bison femur bones. Less aggressive chewers may be safe with less dense bones such as lamb or pork bones.
  • Chewing Tendencies: Bones are intended to be gnawed on over a long period of time, not crushed and swallowed. If your dog is an aggressive chewer, and can break large pieces of bone off, then it is important to take the bone away and discard the pieces.

In addition, you should always supervise your animal when she is enjoying a bone just to make sure that she is chewing properly and there are no choking risks.

Finally, if you are ever unsure of what the right bone may be for your cat or dog, please ask us and we’ll be happy to walk you through the various options.

tabby cat licking its lips after eating a raw, meaty bone
Natalie Soonthornswad

Raw Bones for Feline Happiness & Healthy Teeth (without brushing your cat’s teeth)

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Chewing on bones is a behavior that we most often associate with dogs, but did you know that bones are great for cats too?! Just like with dogs, chewing on bones can provide significant benefits for cats, including keeping them busy and cleaning their teeth at the same time. Providing your cat with meaty bones, such as chicken necks and turkey tails, provides mental stimulation, exercises and strengthens their jaw, and cleans plaque and tartar from their teeth.

The True Nature of Cats

We want every cat guardian to think of their cats as little tigers. Sure, cats are cute and cuddly too, but they are also natural hunters and carnivores. They have sharp claws and teeth, are extremely agile, and have a keen ability to stalk, pounce and kill their prey. Their jaws are strong with sharp teeth meant to rip into flesh and crush bone and their rough tongue can help lick bones clean.

When you consider a cat’s true hunting nature and then picture the food that we provide to them (mushy, soft food), you can see how a meaty bone is much more likely to satisfy their natural chewing instinct.

Meaty Bones and the Fight Against Plaque

Meaty bones also help clean plaque and tartar from your cat’s teeth, which helps prevent periodontal disease, gingivitis, and other dental problems.Remember that the first line of defense in protecting your cat from developing dental issues is to provide them with a healthy diet that consists of little to none of the carbohydrates that are predominantly found in dry food (kibble). Plaque is a bacteria that feeds off of sugar, and since sugar is a type of carbohydrate, it’s safe to reason that kibble is worse for your cat’s teeth, as well as other aspects of her  health.

For many cats, that natural instinct to chew on a bone kicks in when you present them with a delicious, meaty chicken neck. However, for some cats, they have to be taught “how” to chew on larger pieces of meat and bone.

If your cat doesn’t gravitate to the meaty bone immediately, you can cut it up into smaller bite sized pieces. As your cat’s jaw gets stronger from the exercise of chewing, and she becomes more accustomed to the larger pieces, continue increasing the size of the pieces. It can be a gradual process, but many cats will graduate to gnawing on full-sized meaty chicken necks and wings.

For a point of reference, check out this quick video of our cats chewing on chicken necks and then stop by the store to talk about which meaty bones would be best for your cat.

Product Review: Raw Green Tripe | The Happy Beast

Raw Green Tripe – Our Latest and Greatest Super Food!

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Whenever I find a new health food, I want to know how it benefits me and how it’ll benefit my dog. A lot of the time, my dog and I indulge in the same health foods (like fish oil, chia seeds, and apple cider vinegar.) Right now, I’m super excited about raw green tripe, but it’s one super food that I’ll let my dog have all to herself!

Tripe is the stomach of ruminant (grazing) animals including sheep, bison, cows and venison. To get the benefits of tripe, you need the RAW GREEN stuff! (Not the bleached tripe found in grocery stores. That kind has been stripped of its color, smell and nutrients.)

Tripe has a lot to offer, but it’s one of the stinkiest foods I’ve found. I have to hold my breath when I serve it up to my dog, and she thinks it’s delicious!

The benefits of feeding green tripe include:

  • improved digestion
  • healthier skin & coat
  • improved immunity
  • healthier teeth and gums
  • rejuvenation for senior dogs
  • aids in transitioning to a new diet
  • entices picky dogs or dogs who’ve lost their appetite to eat

How does tripe provide all this goodness? Raw green tripe contains significant levels of digestive enzymes, amino acids and lactobacillus acidophilus. Let’s take a look at each:

Digestive enzymes help break down food into nutrients for the body to absorb.

  • Who needs them most? Dogs with pancreatitis, food allergies, older dogs, dogs who eat poo.

Amino acids are the building blocks of healthy muscles, organs and skin cells. Supplying complete amino acids in the diet rejuvenates the body.

  • Who needs them most? All dogs! Particularly, older animals, athletic dogs and growing puppies.

Lactobacillus acidophilus is a probiotic- one of the healthy bacteria that facilitate digestion in the intestines. Adding probiotics to the system works to “flood-out” bad bacteria from the digestive tract

  • Who needs it most? Dogs who have recently been on antibiotics, or have a weak or compromised immune system.

Want to see how tripe benefits your dog? We all feed our animals a little tripe, so we can help you find the best one for yours! At The Happy Beast, we carry green tripe in cans, freeze-dried or raw. K9 Natural’s raw and freeze-dried lamb tripe is easy to store (either in the freezer or in the cupboar.) Some dogs prefer the texture and smell of canned tripe. Tripett’s offers canned tripe from venison, beef, lamb and bison.